ERIC Intel is opening a new energy and sustainability lab, headquartered in Ireland, which will focus on getting consumers to improve their energy efficiency. The lab will push out handy gadgets that allow people to discover more about how they’re using energy.
Intel CTO Justin Rattner, who announced the lab at the European …

That and...

Rather than calculating electricity costs in car polution because of the coal burned to make it, perhaps having nuclear reactors providing most of the power for a country, we can measure cuts in pounds of waste (which is likely to be significantly less than the pounds of CO2 polution just cited in the article).

I used to have a display in my living room but I got sick of having to replace the batteries either in it or in the sender in the garage. It was educational though. It proved that I could spot which appliances consumed the most electricity without the need for measurement. Not exactly difficult - if it produces heat (as a function or a by-product) then it's a heavy consumer. Anything that stays cool to the touch or is barely lukewarm isn't worth worrying about unless you have dozens of them running all the time.

Intel fail

After working as a 3rd party on an Intel energy efficiency project (which failed miserably) I got to see first hand why they are so far behind in this market space. Honestly based on the project management competence its quite easy to see why they have no solution for phones and tablets.